Symptoms And Treatment Of Cattle Diseases - Part 4

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bronchial tubes. It is commonly known as catching cold, but it is more often brought on by foreign bodies such as medicine, gruels, salts and oils being given to cattle as a drench. It is for this reason that cattle should never be drenched.

In Bronchitis there is usually a loss of appetite, a rise of temperature (generally 104 to 105), and the breathing is incomplete, short, quick and painful. The pulse is increased and often a painful cough is present.

Treatment.

The animals should be placed in a light, well ventilated box-stall, given feed of a laxative nature, such as grass in season and bran mashes, which latter should be made out of linseed tea. Give the animal plenty of water to drink. Apply white liniment to throat and lungs.

The fever should be reduced with the Fever Paste and the bowels kept open with Laxotonic, while warm water injections per rectum should be given by means of a flushing outfit. After this has been accomplished, the cow may be given Cow Tonic, and well cared for until fully recovered.

See Prescription No. 12, page 174.

CALF CHOLERA.

This is a catarrhal condition of the mucous membrane of the bowels. It is either a disturbance of the digestive organs or a symptom of some other trouble.

As a disease itself, it is an unnaturally increased action of the bowels, and at first may be nothing more than an attempt of Nature to relieve the stomach and bowels of their undigested, fermenting, offensive and irritating contents, which is marked by a thin, profuse, watery discharge from them. This indicates an irritated and over-stimulated condition of the excreting glands of the bowels, causing an unnatural in-creased amount of liquid to be emptied into them, thereby mixing with the undigested fermenting contents, which is irregularly and rapidly expelled from the bowels. Such a condition shows a catarrhal and overstimulated condition of the mucous membrane of the digestive organs, which are very sensitive to irritating, or soothing ingredients taken into the system.

Scours Due to Indigestion.

The surroundings of the calf have much to do with the cause of this disease. Calves kept indoors suffer to a greater extent than those running in the open air and having the strengthening influences of sunshine, pure air and exercise. Closely crowded, filthy and bad smelling buildings are important factors in causing the disease.

All these causes tend toward reducing the activity of the digestive organs. As scours in calves is a common result of indigestion, it is therefore necessary that the digestive organs be kept in good, strong, healthy condition.

Indigestion Due to Many Causes.

Indigestion may occur from many different causes, as costiveness, a too liberal supply of milk; too rich milk; the furnishing of the milk of a cow long after calving to a very young calf; allowing the calf to suck the first milk of a cow that has been hunted, driven by road, shipped by rail, or otherwise violently excited; allowing the calf too long time between meals, so that impelled by hunger it quickly overloads and clogs the stomach ; feeding from a pail milk that has been held over in unwashed (unscalded) buckets, so that it is fermented and spoiled; feeding the milk of cows kept on unwholesome food ; keeping calves in cold, damp, dark, filthy or bad smelling pens; the licking of hair from themselves or others and its formation into balls in the stomach will cause indigestion in the calf.

Simple Scours Develops Into Infectious Diseases.

The above are causes of simple diarrhoea or scours. This form in its early stages is not infectious, but is due to indigestion. As indigestion persists, however, the fermentations going on in the undigested masses become steadily more complicated and active, and what was at first the mere result of irritation or suspended digestion, comes to be a genuine infectious disease, in which the organized ferments (bacteria or germs) propagate, multiply and produce an infectious disease which is commonly called scours in calves, but properly called Calf Cholera. It is for this reason that it is transmitted and carried from one animal to another, thus causing untold losses to dairyman and breeder.

Disease Appears Suddenly.

Scours in calves or Calf Cholera in many instances differs from Diarrhoea in the adults and has special features of its own, taking the form of infectious intestinal catarrh, which is far more serious than the ordinary diarrhoea of the full grown animal. This disease generally appears suddenly. A perfectly healthy calf may be seized all at once, apparently, without any change in food or care. The symptoms of this infantile diarrhoea usually appear during the first two or three weeks of life. In many cases it occurs within a few hours after the animal is born, and the calf may die within from twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

Calf May Contain Germs at Birth.

It is common for the calf to be afflicted with scours immediately at birth, even before it has had time to suck or take any' nourishment whatever.

The faeces or manure is very thin and watery. It has a sour, disagreeable odor, and is usually very light colored. The evacuations are frequent and expelled with force.

Prompt Attention Necessary.

The first indication of the presence of the disease is usually the soiled condition of the tail, loss of appetite, sunken eyes, sometimes the saliva flowing from the mouth, no attempt being made to swallow it. They have a staring coat, grow thin and lose strength rapidly. Death usually follows in from twelve to twenty-four hours unless prompt measures are taken to check the disease. If allowed to continue for any length of time the scouring will be accompanied by congestion and ulceration of the intestinal mucous membrane caused by the irritating secretions. As a result of this disease partial or total blindness is sometimes brought on.

How to Prevent Calf Cholera.

To prevent scours in calves, proper care should be given to the mother while she is pregnant, that she may be able to give birth to a healthy calf. As it is a germ disease, it is very important that the calf has none of these germs in its system before it is born. Calves from mothers which are affected with the disease of abortion are most apt to die of scours. It is therefore very necessary that the cows be kept free from the disease. Calves born afflicted with the germs of this disease in their system are in a position to spread the disease to other calves that they may come in contact with in the same herd, or if shipped, to other herds. This is another proof of its infectious nature.

To Prevent Loss

After removing the afflicted calf from the rest of the calves, the stable should be thoroughly disinfected with Disinfectall, and the balance of the calves should be given Calf Cholera Remedy once daily with their regular feed, thereby keeping their digestive organs in proper condition so that they may digest and assimilate their food and thus escape the disease entirely.

To Care for Calf Properly.

The most important factor in the raising of cattle is their care while young.

Do not think that you are doing the correct thing if you are only managing to keep the life in a calf until it is three months old, and then have it get fat on grass before the winter comes. If you do this you are apt to have a lot of weaklings with their digestive organs destroyed, which will never make strong, healthy steers or cows and will not be good for either dairy, beef or breeding animals.

Profit in Proper Care of Calves.

It is but little more expense and care to give your calves the attention and food necessary to keep them free from scours and other diseases and start them off with digestive organs in good condition and a strong constitution. This can be done by feeding your calves Calf Meal. By doing this you will lay the foundation of a strong constitution upon which you can build a strong, healthy animal, and one which with proper care will make you money in whatever line it is put, whether beef or breeding.

Calves Contract Cholera.

A calf that is not infected with the germs of Cholera at birth may contract them later on from other causes, such as indigestion, close stabling and coming in contact with calves already thus infected. The germs. of cholera, when once introduced into the system, propagate and multiply so rapidly that unless measures are immediately taken to destroy them and stop their ravages in the system death will ensue in a short time.

Proper Food Should Be Furnished.

The calf should receive proper food, free from fermentation, at regular intervals and in reasonable amounts. To this food should be added a good, reliable Calf Meal that will aid digestion and prevent fermentation, thereby preventing the formation of germs and causing a proper digestion and assimilation of the food.

This is an insurance against death by scours or calf cholera.

Treatment of Calf Cholera.

While it is much easier to prevent a disease than it is to cure it, still it is very important to know how to properly care for an animal after it is taken sick. This is certainly the case with a calf which has Calf Cholera or scours, for if it is not taken in hand promptly it will probably be too late to do anything for it, as the disease is apt to prove fatal in a short time.

When it is discovered that a calf has diarrhoea or scours it should be placed in a clean, warm, loose, well disinfected and ventilated stall, free from cold drafts, but admitting plenty of sunlight. It should receive a mild laxative to rid the bowels of the irritating contents, after which it should be given Calf Cholera Remedy. This remedy will arrest fermentation, mildly check the secretions, aid digestion and assimilation, thereby destroying and preventing the formation of germs, thus causing the bowels to be soothed and healed, enabling the calf to pass the fæces in a natural form. Roots of tail and hind quarters should be washed once daily with Solution of Disinfectall.

See Prescription No. 13 for Calf Cholera, page 174.

CALF INDIGESTION.

How to Know It.

The symptoms of calf indigestion are dullness, belching of gas from the stomach, sour breath, entire loss of appetite, colicky pain, and at first constipation, which later on develops into diarrhoea, the faces being very offensive.

If constipation be present at the time of treatment, the calf should be given small doses of Laxotonic, but if diarrhoea be present at the time of treatment small doses of Calf Cholera Remedy should be given.

See Prescription No. 14, page 174.

CALVING.

The required time of gestation, or the period in which a cow carries her calf, is nine months, at which time special attention should be given her. Place her in a loose box-stall with plenty of bedding; give her feed of a laxative nature; the drinking water should have the chill taken from it, and her bowels should be kept in a natural condition by giving her Laxotonic.

After the labor pains have appeared it would be well to keep watch of her, and if she does not deliver her calf within a reasonable length of time-say, one hour—it would be advisable to make an examination. Upon doing so, if the calf be in a natural position, the nose and front feet are the first to be felt. If such be the case, the attendant may assist the cow in delivering her calf by pulling on the front feet. Any other position would indicate an unnatural condition of calving. When calf is born the naval cord should be tied two inches from the body with a string soaked in Umbilicure ; the naval cord should then be cut about four inches from the body, Umbilicure should be applied three times daily to the naval cord until it dries up and drops off. This will prevent calf from becoming infected with naval diseases. The calf should be allowed to remain with the cow three or four days. Important in connection with this article is the article of Naval Diseases in Calves.

See Prescription No. 16, page 174.

Casting the Withers—Or Expulsion of the Womb.

This is a weakness which sometimes follows calving. The first sign is that of straining, and later the presence of part or the whole of the womb. In this case the womb should be placed upon a blanket; if the cow is lying down, which she usually is, wash off thoroughly with the Antisepto Solution; after doing this the womb may be done up in a sheet dipped in the Antisepto Solution and held up by an attendant, while the operator carefully pushes it back into its place. It must not only be placed back, but the full length of the arm must be inserted, so that it turns the horns of the womb back into the natural position, and, unless this is done, the cow will continue to strain.

To prevent the cow from expelling it again, she should be placed upon a plank door four feet wide and six feet long, with laths nailed across to prevent her feet from slipping when she stands upon it. The end of the door on which the hind parts are should be raised from six to eighteen inches, and she should be compelled either to lie down or stand up on this door until all straining ceases and she fully recovers, usually requiring from one to three days. During this time her bowels should, be kept loose with Laxotonic and her appetite kept up with Cow Tonic.

See Prescription No. 18, page 174.

CASTRATING.

In castrating calves or bulls the scrotum, or bag, should be washed with the Germ Killer solution. After the operation the scrotum should be well oiled with the Healing Oil.

Calves should be castrated at the age of from one to three weeks. Bulls may be castrated at any age.

See Prescription No. 19, page 174.

CATARRHAL FEVER OR PINK EYE.

Catarrhal Fever is usually known as Pink Eye, Distemper and many other diseases of a catarrhal nature. This disease involves the respiratory or breathing organs, the alimentary canal, or digestive organs. The head, eyes and genital organs are frequently affected. This disease usually comes on with a chill, followed by a fever. The head droops, the skin is hot and dry, and the coat staring, frequently very dull in appearance. The secretion of milk usually stops. Loss of appetite and loss of flesh are invariably noticed, and sometimes the eyes become blue, so that the animal may be hardly able to see. In other cases the cow becomes totally blind unless prompt and proper treatment is given. Tears may be noticed running down the face, the lids are swollen and inflamed ; sunlight is painful to animals thus afflicted, causing them to close their eyes and keep them closed continuously.

Treatment.

The eyes should be washed with the Antisepto Solution, full strength, and the Eye Lotion should be injected into the eyes with a small, hard rubber syringe having a soft rubber nozzle. The temperature should be taken, and if found to be high the Fever Paste should be given, and the Cow Tonic should be given during the entire treatment. The stable in which the animal is kept should be thoroughly disinfected with Disinfectall.

See Prescription No. 20, page 174.

CHOKING.

This means the lodgment of a foreign obstacle in the swallowing tube or gullet. It is known by slobbering, distressed breathing, and an accumulation of gas, which may be noticed in the left side or paunch.

Treatment.

Stand the cow with her head down hill, pressing the head downward as much as possible, while the attendant squeezes as much saliva out of the gullet as possible. Then allow her to raise her head and give her half a dose of oil (half pint), giving but one swallow at a time. If she is not relieved in from ten to thirty minutes, a one-inch rubber hose five or six feet long may be passed gently down the gullet. This will force the obstacle into the stomach, at the same time allowing the gas to escape. On account of the extensive stretching of the bowels due to the collection of gas, the Laxotonic should be given to overcome paralysis of the bowels, which usually follows.

See Prescription No. 21, page 174.

Clean—Failure to.

A cow should clean within three hours after calving. In case she fails to do so she should receive plenty of hot mashes, boiled oats, warm water, and be given the Cow Cleaner. The vagina should be washed out with Antisepto Solution and the cow tied up with a halter to prevent eating the afterbirth. After she has cleaned and is through discharging she may be placed with the balance of the herd and her milk be ready for use. (See Retention of the Afterbirth, page 54.)

See Prescription No. 17, page 174.

COLD.

A cow may take cold at any time, and it is apt to affect any part of the body, but it usually affects the head, throat or lungs.

Treatment.

If it affects the throat or lungs apply White Liniment to the throat or lungs, or both, and give the Fever Paste. Keep the bowels open with Laxotonic. See Prescription No. 22, page 175.

COLIC OR CRAMP.

This is usually brought on by drinking cold water or eating indigestible food. The animal will be noticed to be uneasy, getting up and lying down frequently, and showing pain.